Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Judy Moody gets famous
Illustrator: Peter H. Reynolds
Fiction Series
For ages 6 to 9
Candlewick, 2003 ISBN: 978-0763619312
Judy Moody is very put out because her classmate, Jessica Finch, is famous. Judy is horrified when she realizes that she has never done anything that is noteworthy. Surely there is something that she can do to catapult herself onto the page of the newspaper.
When it becomes apparent that Judy is not going to be able to make herself famous by spelling words – like Jessica Finch did – Judy takes a different tack. She enters a pet contest with Mouse, her cat. Though Mouse does win second prize in the contest, Judy does not feel that she has managed to do anything worthy of the Moody Hall of Fame.
Next Judy ropes her friends in to help her break a record. The results of her endeavors are disastrous, but something good does come out of the unfortunate experience. Judy discovers something very important– that sometimes the best things you do in your life are the ones that no one knows about.
In this delightful Judy Moody tale, Judy once again learns something that is meaningful. What makes Judy's story special is the fact that she does this more by accident than anything else. Just like with real people, Judy's path to greatness is littered with mistakes, stumblings, and other travails. What is wonderful is that Judy does, amid much laughter, eventually prevail.
